Originally Posted by
Lilfrier
I'm confused. You're talking about medium-high performance, so you're getting an i7-2600K and 16GB of RAM, probably 75% of which will rarely (if ever) be legitimately utilized?
The CPU on newegg is $315. Looks like the RAM is the $52/8GB stuff on there? That's $104 for RAM, then. Motherboard's $175, as I doubt you're going open box (though it's often smart, except going AMD-->Intel means it might not be a great idea).
So 3 parts (CPU/RAM/Board) totals about $600 before tax/shipping. If you're talking medium-high performance, I think this is overkill. My friend went and got an almost entirely-new setup for about $300, getting a 3.2 GHz 955 Phenom II x2, which unlocks to a quad core every time, a decent ASUS motherboard, 8 GB of Corsair RAM, and a 500GB HDD, then he's going to get a 650W Corsair PSU soon, but I'd still say everything is around $300-350. It'll also be able to run anything he throws at it easily, I'm sure.
Don't get me wrong--what you're getting is solid. However, if you're not wanting to go high-end, go i5 or one of the Black Edition AMD chips that almsot always unlock to quad core for about $80. It seems you're going wat overboard for your statement intentions.